


Salsa

by rinthegreat



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Domestic Fluff, Established Relationship, Fluff, Friendship, Multi, Shiro learns to dance the AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-14
Updated: 2017-12-14
Packaged: 2019-02-14 15:43:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,751
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13010949
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rinthegreat/pseuds/rinthegreat
Summary: Sometimes Shiro thinks Matt and Allura have more in common with each other than him. Not wanting to be left out anymore, he finally gets the nerve to talk to his brother's boyfriend about it. What does he ask? "Lance. Will you please...teach me to dance?"





	Salsa

**Author's Note:**

> a thousand and one thank yous to [thislittlekumquat](https://twitter.com/waffledemon) for once again betaing for me! she's so great.
> 
> my partner for this is the lovely [virvanna](https://virvanna-art.tumblr.com/)! i know her art is lovely but **please do not repost**. I will add links at the end for you to reblog instead.

Shiro is at his wit’s end. He’s grown so desperate that he’s ended up here: in this chair at the corner table of the Voltron Café, waiting for his brother’s boyfriend to get off work. Lance shoots him a grin where he’s bussing, three tables over, winking before turning his back and bouncing away.

This was a bad idea.

Keith gets jealous and possessive over Lance, and meeting with him behind Keith’s back is sure to bring that out. Especially since Lance had hit on Shiro the first time they met. (Though in Lance’s defense it was before he and Keith started dating.) And if Keith knew what he plans to ask Lance? He’d be dead before he could even begin explaining himself.

“So,” Lance’s smooth voice cuts across his thoughts as he slides into the seat across from him. His apron’s gone, but he has two drinks in his hand. He pushes one towards Shiro, a refill of his Americano, before sipping at his own. “Whatcha want to talk about?”

Yeah, this was definitely a bad idea.

“Never mind,” Shiro decides, standing up. He’ll give the Americano to someone else or something. He shouldn’t have come here, this was so _stupid_.

“Shiro wait!” And dammit, Lance has the gall to sound upset. “I can be serious, I promise!”

He weighs his options. Lance can make a scene if he wants; Shiro’s watched him do it to Keith. At the time, he’d found that funny. Now, though…he regrets laughing at Keith’s bright red face. So maybe he should just tell Lance before he makes it worse on himself. On the other hand, though, Shiro’s embarrassed just to **be** here. What’s one scene compared to that? Except, then Lance will tell Keith, and then Keith will know he came here to talk to Lance privately…

He sighs and sits back down. “Okay, but you have to promise me two things. Deal?”

Lance adopts that expression he gets when he’s trying especially hard to be serious. “Of course.”

“One,” Shiro sticks up a finger, “you can’t laugh at me.” Lance nods vigorously. “And two,” he puts up a second one, “you can’t tell anyone. Not Keith, not Allura, not Pidge, not even Hunk. No one, ok?”

His future brother-in-law’s eyes light up. “Shiro’s letting me in on a secret, oh my god…”

“Lance.”

Lance holds up three fingers in a salute. “Scout’s honor, Shiro. No fun-making, no telling. My lips are sealed.” He mimes zipping and locking his lips, looking simultaneously about to burst and like he’s trying to hold himself together.

Shiro already regrets this.

“So what is it? What’s the big secret? I’m dying to know here…” Lance leans in, lowering his voice like it’s something they need to keep secret from the entire coffee shop.

Shiro closes his eyes and takes a breath. _Just ask him_. “Lance. Will you please…teach me to dance?”

Snort.

Shiro opens his eyes, glaring straight at Lance, who now has both hands over his mouth like he’s trying to hold himself back. “I said no making fun,” Shiro reminds him.

Lance nods, obviously trying to get control over himself. He keeps his hands in front of his mouth, hiding his smile from view, but Shiro can still see the mirth in his eyes. “Sorry, give me a sec. I never thought you’d ask me that.”

“I should remind you that you’re dating my brother with my blessing. I can take that away.” It’s an empty threat; Keith loves Lance, and Shiro loves seeing Keith happy. But Lance doesn’t need to know that.

Lance manages to get enough control over himself to lower his hands and look at Shiro without grinning. “So you want to learn to dance. I guess that’s not too weird. Matt and Allura dance all the time,” Lance says more to himself than to Shiro. “But then why ask me? Why not ask one of them? I’m sure they’d be happy to teach you.” He frowns. “If you ask me, Matt is definitely the better one to learn from. Allura gets really impatient if you don’t pick it up fast enough, and she doesn’t like to follow unless she has a skilled lead…”

“I can’t ask them.”

“Why not? You guys are still together, right?” And Lance, bless him, actually looks concerned.

Shiro runs his hand over his face. This is the embarrassing part, and Lance had already almost lost it when he’d asked the question in the first place. “It’s kinda…a surprise,” he admits eventually.

Luckily for him, Lance doesn’t push the issue. “Ohhh….I get it.” He nods, as if completely understanding. “That’s really romantic of you, Shiro. You know I thought your whole family was romance-illiterate. Good to know there’s potential in there.” Lance sips his drink, froth moustache coating his grin. “So. Secret dance lessons. I like it.”

“Yeah?” He shouldn’t be surprised. Lance loves dancing, loves teaching, and loves secrets.

Lance nods again. “For sure. I have a standing studio rehearsal space for my classwork anyway, so you can meet me there. Keith has class at the time, and it’s never busy then either. Assuming you’re free then?”

Shiro breathes a sigh of relief. This is going better than he’d ever imagined it would. “Tuesdays I TA a lab at that time but otherwise I’m free.”

“Awesome,” Lance has a twinkle in his eye, no doubt already spinning grand plans for how the lessons are going to go. “But you do know dance is a pretty broad term, right? What are you planning to learn?”

Shiro pulls out his phone, looking at the note he’d made earlier. “Uh, salsa?”

Lance claps his hands together, excited. “Oh right! Salsa Fridays. That makes total sense. Matt and Allura have been doing that together since you guys were sophomores, right?”

Oh good, it _is_ a real dance. He’d been a little worried it was a typo or he’d grabbed the wrong event from the calendar. He’d heard of swing and waltz and ballet and hip hop. But salsa? He’d thought that was just a food. Apparently not. But, wait. He’d just assumed…

“You can…uh…do the salsa dance, right?”

Lance laughed at that, reaching across the table to clap Shiro across the shoulder. “Of course I can! I can do almost any dance, but I’ve been salsa dancing since I was ten. I go Fridays sometimes too. Allura and Matt are really good!” He apparently reads the horror in Shiro’s face, because Lance waves his hands frantically, nearly knocking over his own drink. “Not that there’s anything to worry about. I’m definitely one of the best out there, so I can totally teach you. Plus a lot of people go who aren’t very good, but they improve as they go. And also, they’ll love you no matter what so –“

“Thanks, Lance.” Shiro cuts off the well-meaning rambling. It isn’t doing anything to help his nerves. “I don’t want to cut into your classwork, so we shouldn’t meet every day.”

Lance nods in agreement, pulling out his phone. “Right. It’ll probably help to know when you’re planning to surprise them. If it’s sooner we can meet every day, as long as you promise to get lessons from your girlfriend or boyfriend after you show them. If we have longer, then I’d like two or three days a week to work on my own stuff.”

“I’d like to be able to dance by the time we get out for the winter break.”

“Oh. So a little over a month. Yeah, that’s fine. I was afraid you were gonna say next Friday or something.”

Shiro shakes his head firmly. No way can he learn to dance in a week’s time. He’s never danced in his life, unless you count the awkward swaying he did at his high school prom. His date had gone home early with her friends, so he figures that says enough about his dance skills.

“How about Mondays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays?” Lance asks, still scrolling through his phone’s calendar. “Sometimes Keith gets out of his Friday class early and comes to meet me, so if you really don’t want him knowing, then Fridays are out.”

“That’s fine.” The last thing Shiro wants is for Keith to see him taking dance lessons from Lance. Not only would Keith stop talking to him for at least a month, once they were back on speaking terms he’d make fun of Shiro for the rest of their lives.

He makes a calendar invite – marked private and available just in case – and invites Lance, who accepts almost immediately. “Oh man, I am so looking forward to this,” Lance grins again, putting his phone away. “Hey, when you go to the salsa social I’m gonna come and bring Keith, alright? He _refuses_ to learn. Maybe seeing his big brother let loose will encourage him.”

As humiliating as _that_ sounds, Shiro can’t help but grin. “I think you mean you want to take advantage of his competitive spirit.”

Lance shrugs. “Potato, Potahto. I’ve been trying to get him to go since before we started dating. I miss my salsa Fridays, even if he does make it up with the horizontal Tan–“

“Alright, that’s my cue to leave.” Shiro cuts him off again. They’re both adults, he knows that. He also _objectively_ knows that they’re having sex. But that doesn’t mean he wants to hear about his _little brother_ sleeping with his girlfriend’s best friend. Just like he doesn’t want to hear – or see – Keith get drunk. Some things, Shiro believes, are better off as mysteries.

He picks up his cup, glad that Lance at least gave him a to-go mug. “Thanks for the drink.”

Lance grins up at him, undisturbed as ever. “Gotta do what I gotta do to stay in your good graces, future brother-in-law.” The joke’s a long running one, ever since Lance had stiffly asked him if it was alright to date his brother almost two years ago. Keith had turned redder than Shiro had ever seen when he’d made the marriage comment. Even now, Keith still gets pink whenever anyone implies that he and Lance are going to end up together forever.

But Shiro’s seen the ring. He knows what his brother has planned.

He waves at Lance as he leaves, feeling better already. The worst is yet to come, he knows, but at least he got the asking over and done with. Now he just has to learn how to dance.

 

* * *

 

 

Allura’s already cooking when he gets home. He smells the spice as soon as he opens the door, and even though he just had coffee with Lance, his stomach growls. “I’m home,” he calls as he closes the door.

“In the kitchen!” She shouts, but he didn’t need the directions to head there. She’s standing over the stove, wearing just her sports bra and booty shorts, clearly just having come from training. “Here,” she shoves the spoon at Shiro the second he walks in, “tell me if you like this.”

The first time she’d done this he’d been surprised, but this is par for the course now, so he takes his taste off the spoon, thinking about it. “Could use a little more spice?” He asks, never sure what the right answer is. “Hey is that the dish Matt made last week?”

“I wanted to try changing it up,” she remarks, going to the spice rack and pulling out more cayenne. She looks at it before peppering in some, unmeasured. Shiro’s gotten used to her erratic cooking, but at first the careless method drove him nuts. Her food never tastes the same twice.

It had started when Matt had complained about them going out to eat all the time. Going on his second year towards his PhD, Matt is still the poorest college student of them all. Shiro, being an only child, has been doing okay despite getting his own Master’s. Allura, of course, outdoes both of them already working as a sports trainer. Even the university’s football team had hired her on for a weeklong boot camp to kick the team’s ass into shape.

Shiro had agreed that eating out was killing his wallet, so for a while, he and Matt bought ready-made meals. Allura, however, had gotten fed up with them stealing the food she made for herself, and so the cooking rotation had started. Three times a week, based their schedules, one of them is the chef. It works well enough, and they make due on the days they have to fend for themselves.

“Is Matt even coming home today? I thought he had that big meeting with his professor,” Shiro remarks, taking a seat at the counter to watch Allura work. She’s beautiful, white hair pulled into a bun that defies physics, and he’s forever grateful she fell in love with both him and Matt and he never had to choose between them.

“He called earlier. Said he tried you but you didn’t pick up.”

Oh. Right. He digs out his phone and sure enough Matt _had_ called him. “I got caught up.”

Allura shrugs. “I’m not offended.”

“Good.”

“But he was.” She turns to him with a shit-eating grin.

“Did I forget something?”

“Not telling you~” she sing-songs, going back to her cooking. It’s times like this that Shiro gets why she and Lance are so close. They both act innocent, but they really like messing with their friends. Just like Matt’s little sister.

“Dammit,” he mutters, dialing Matt. He can still fix this, whatever it is. He doesn’t even finish dialing before the tell-tale click of the door unlocking sounds.

Matt walks in a second later, looking exhausted. “Hey,” he greets them both, dropping his bag unceremoniously on the ground with a thud. Shiro winces; he hopes Matt’s computer isn’t in there. He’s already gone through two this year from other such _accidents_.

“Matt, sorry I missed you. Don’t be mad…” He trails off to Allura’s laughter and Matt’s confused look.

“Missed me? My call? No biggie, I told Allura I’d be back in time for dinner. Couldn’t remember which of you was cooking tonight.”

Allura is still cackling over the stove so Shiro throws the nearest thing – their dish towel – at her. She, of course, catches it and tucks it into her shorts. “Not funny, I thought I was in trouble.”

“Oh, Shiro honey, you’re _always_ in trouble.”

“She has a point there.”

He throws the sponge at Matt. Matt ducks, letting the sponge hit the wall behind him. “But really, what is Shiro in trouble for?”

“Not answering your call.”

“Shiro, I know you’re crazy busy with all your classwork and teaching and crap. Trust me, I get how it is. I’m definitely not mad.” Matt assures him. He drops his backpack with a loud thump on the ground and takes the stool next to him at the counter.

“You’re no fun,” Allura complains, “I almost had him to the point where he’d promise to buy us dinner next weekend.”

“You’re richer than both of us combined,” Shiro points out.

“Yes, but I like when you buy us things. It makes me feel special.” She turns around to them. “And if you’re done being such men, you could at least help set the table and get drinks.”

“Such men?” Matt asks, but Shiro elbows him.

“Don’t ask. Don’t ever ask.”

 

* * *

 

 

Shiro’s ten minutes late to meet Lance for their first dance lesson. He has an apology on his lips, but when he gets there he sees the other man already in the studio, working on…something. Shiro doesn’t know enough about dance to know what it is, but he sure hopes it isn’t salsa.

Lance is focused on himself in the mirror, headphones in as he moves his body in ways Shiro didn’t think it could move. He’s a double major, dance and astronomy, and Shiro has no idea how he pulls it off. Well, he has some idea: Lance is hanging on for a fifth year in his undergraduate while Keith graduates and continues on to get his master’s next year. (Keith won’t admit it, but Shiro knows part of his reason to get a higher degree is because Lance plans to, and Keith plans to stick with Lance.)

Shiro watches as Lance spins around, a complete 360, before their eyes meet in the mirror. Lance pops the earbuds out of his ears. “Hey, didn’t see you come in. You could’ve shouted or something.”

“I just got here,” Shiro assures him.

“Good.” Lance heads over to the table in the side of the room where the audio system is set up. “Throw your bag in a corner. Do you have dance shoes?”

“Dance shoes…?”

“Can’t wear street shoes in here.” Lance points at the door. Shiro turns and sees a sign on the door, clearly saying _no street shoes_. “It ruins the floor.”

“I don’t…” Do Matt and Allura have dance shoes? Is this some other secret thing he doesn’t know about? He thought dancing was just…dancing. Apparently not.

Lance walks over to him with a smile. “Relax, I got you covered.” He hands a pair over, lightly used but exactly the right size. Shiro raises his brow at that.

“You know my shoe size?”

“What makes you think we don’t have the same size and I’m just guessing?”

“Your feet are narrower than mine.”

“Aha! So you know _my_ shoe size.”

Shiro pinches his nose. He has no idea how his brother can keep up with Lance, but then again he’s not sure how _Lance_ can keep up with his brother either.

Lance lets out a laugh. “Relax, Shiro. It’s not complicated. I figured you wouldn’t have shoes so I snagged some in your size. Keith tried to lend me a pair of your shoes once – “

“What?”

“– so I know what you wear.” He pushes the shoes against Shiro’s arm. “Put them on, come on. We’re wasting precious time.”

They could go around in circles about this all day; Shiro’s seen Lance and Keith do the same. So he drops the subject and grabs the shoes. “Tell me you weren’t just salsa…ing.” He doesn’t know the verb for it, but that must be pretty far off, because Lance laughs again.

“Nah that was work for the spring concert. I’m choreographing a piece for the sophomores. Pretty cool right?”

“Pretty cool.” Shiro agrees. He takes off his shoes and drops them with his bag in the corner. The ones Lance brought for him fit him fairly well. Not perfectly, and when he takes a step he almost slips. “Why are these so slick.” He doesn’t ask the question, instead the tone comes out accusing.

“Um because you’re not supposed to have rubber soles. Remember?” As if Shiro should’ve expected that. Maybe he should’ve. “No street shoes.”

“You expect me to dance on these death traps?”

“Shiro, calm down. You’re starting to sound like Keith. Now come over here.” Lance beckons from the center of the room.

He makes his way over there, feeling his feet slip every few steps. “This is ridiculous,” he grits out when he finally makes it there.

“Relax; you’re so tense. Breathe in and out.” He pokes Shiro’s chest when he doesn’t immediately comply. “Come on. You were the one who asked for lessons. In and out. With me. In.” Lance sucks in a deep breath and Shiro mimics him. “And out.” They breathe out together. “Good.” Lance taps him on the shoulder. “Ready?”

“I don’t think I’ll ever be ready.”

Lance laughs. “Come on, I doubt you’re that bad.” Shiro intentionally keeps his mouth shut at that. “Okay, well maybe you are. But that’s why you’re here! We’ll start with a warm up…”

‘Warm up’ as it turns out, is code for _embarrass the crap out of you while making you stare at yourself in a mirror_. Lance demonstrates everything for Shiro, doing it with him, but Shiro just…can’t. He has no idea how Lance moves his chest and hips completely independently of each other. (“They’re called isolations, Shiro. You’re going to need to be able to do this if you want to be good at salsa.”) And in the end, the only thing he thinks he does correctly are the neck stretches.

Regardless, they move on.

“Okay. Now with salsa, there’s a pretty simple basic step. I’m just gonna teach you the lead’s part, and if you want to learn more later you can talk to Matt okay? He’s a good follow.”

“Uh…”

“Good.” Lance straightens up in the mirror. “We move forward first on our left foot. The counts are one, two three…five, six seven.” Lance steps forward and backward, hips swaying, somehow ending up in the same exact spot he’d started. Shiro stares. He’d barely moved at all and somehow there were steps in there.

“Um…”

Lance shoots him an almost pitying smile. “It’s ok it’s your first time. We’ll take our time, alright? So step forward with me. Ready? One, two, three, pause, five, six seven.”

The steps should be easy. Watching Lance do them makes it look like the easiest thing in the world. But for Shiro…

The hour ends with him wanting to tear his hair out.

“So we didn’t get a chance to do it with music, but that’s okay,” Lance assures him gently as Shiro takes off the shoes. He wants to chuck them across the room, but instead he hands them back to Lance. “Just remember that there’s a pause where four and eight should be ok? Practice in your room at home.”

Snapping at Lance for helping him is not the right thing to do, Shiro reminds himself mentally. So instead he keeps his jaw locked shut and nods.

“Shiro.” He looks up and sees Lance smiling softly down at him, hand outstretched to help him up. “It’s frustrating. Believe me, I know. Keith wanted to take me rock climbing a while back and I had to go to a gym to learn. I never thought I could be that bad at just…climbing up a wall. But I was.” Shiro takes his hand and lets Lance help him up.

“Even if you suck at it and never get good…they’ll still love you. I’ve known Allura my whole life, and she is definitely not going to dump you over not being able to dance. She might tease you a little, but she teases you about everything.” Well, that is true. “And Matt has been clearly devoted to you from the moment I met the guy. Plus I think Pidge would kill him if he even thought about leaving you guys.”

Shiro chuckles. “Thanks.”

“So you’re doing fine. I’ll see you Wednesday?”

He nods, feeling a little better already. Lance has that effect on everyone, he’s noticed. “Thank you. I’ll try to practice so we can move on.”

Lance’s smile brightens. “There’s the spirit. I knew my future brother had it in him.” Lance pushes him towards the door. “But you might want to hurry, because Keith messaged me saying he’s gonna stop by, so…”

Shiro walks out of there as quickly as he can without looking like he’s running away.

 

* * *

 

 

Wednesday goes about the same, and by Thursday Shiro is ready to call it quits. He’s had three entire practices with Lance, and yet they still haven’t even gotten the chance to try it with music. Shiro wants to scream, cry, bang his fists on the stupid mirrors Lance keeps making them face. And it’s not like Lance isn’t just as frustrated. Shiro can see it in the way he sets his jaw. In the tick of his eyebrow when Shiro once a-fucking-gain steps on the four. In the overly calm way he says: “remember to pause on both the four and the eight.”

He should save them both the trouble and just quit now.

“This is hopeless,” he groans when Lance makes them start over again. “I can’t get the steps, and I can’t make my hips move the way yours do. I’m never going to get this.”

“It’s not hopeless –“

“Really,” he deadpans. “Then why can’t I seem to remember to pause on the four and the eight?”

“Are you going to actually listen to me this time, or are you going to keep saying ‘I know’ the way you have been all practice?”

Shiro grinds his teeth together, choosing not to answer that.

Lance sighs, the first sign of anything other than encouragement showing on his face as he draws his hand down it. He makes his way over to where his phone is plugged into the speakers. “Look, it’s not easy for everyone. You’ve done everything pretty rigidly your entire life, and now all of a sudden I’m telling you to move your hips and skip counts. Of course you’re going to struggle.”

Well, when he puts it like that…

“But what I think the issue really is, Shiro? You’re thinking too much.”

Lance’s words are punctuated by the sudden sound of horns. Shiro jumps as the music starts to play. Lance hums a few notes, turning to him. Somehow, he walks towards Shiro, and yet all his movements are in time with the music – in time with what he’s been trying to teach Shiro.

Just before they’re face-to-face, Shiro realizes what he’s doing. “No, nonono, Lance, I can’t –“

“You can,” Lance assures, grabbing both of his hands. He moves them, dancing across from Shiro. “Come on, don’t make me dance alone.”

Shiro hesitates, face turning automatically down to watch Lance’s feet, but immediately Lance spins himself, dropping one of Shiro’s hands as he does. “Don’t watch your feet. Don’t think. Just dance.” Reluctantly, he looks up, catching Lance’s bright grin. He sighs before stepping forward.

And immediately steps on Lance’s foot.

“Shit, I’m –“

“Don’t apologize. Try again.”

He waits until Lance sways backwards before stepping forward again. This time he doesn’t step on his feet. He follows Lance’s movements, letting the more experienced dancer guide them since he clearly has no idea what he’s doing.

And to his surprise it works.

He doesn’t step on Lance’s feet at all. In fact, Lance is grinning, having a grand old time to the point Shiro can feel the tug of a smile on his lips as well. It takes a little bit, but he realizes that he’s doing the steps Lance has been teaching him. He’s pausing on the fours and eights without even thinking about it.

He’s having fun.

“See? I told you,” Lance gloats, separating once the song ends. “You just needed to stop thinking so much.”

Keith’s told him not to let Lance ever know he’s right, because he’ll never let it go. But somehow, Shiro knows that he doesn’t have to say anything at all for Lance to gloat. “Okay so I got the…” He struggles, not sure what to call it. Salsa step? Dance move?

“Basic step.”

“Right. Basic step. I…that can’t be what Matt and Allura do for two hours every Friday night.”

“Wait.” Lance turns to him. “You haven’t gone to watch?”

Shiro shifts his feet, awkwardly. “They would try to make me dance. You’ve seen me, Lance. I have two left feet.”

“So you literally have no idea what salsa dancing looks like?”

He nods, feeling sheepish at admitting it. To his dismay, Lance bursts out laughing. He frowns. “It’s not funny.”

“It is though,” Lance insists, still laughing. “What if you had asked me to teach you bachata?”

Shiro just blinks. “What’s a ba…chata?”

Again, it’s the wrong thing to say, because Lance doubles over. Shiro thinks he might be crying, he’s laughing so hard. Shiro crosses his arms, determined not to pout while Lance has his hysterics. He bites his lip to keep himself from smiling and encouraging him.

Finally, Lance calms down enough to stand up. “Let’s just say that Keith would absolutely kill you if he saw us dancing to that.”

Shiro flushes, mind going places it probably shouldn’t. “He knows I wouldn’t…”

“And he knows I wouldn’t either. That doesn’t stop him, Shiro. You know him better than I do.” Lance unplugs his phone, background music shutting off. He sits back against the mirror and tugs off his shoes. “I’ll send you some songs that are easy to move to. I know it might be kinda weird, but practice over the weekend okay? I don’t want you losing all this progress you just made.”

“I don’t either,” Shiro admits.

“Good.” Lance stands up, throwing his bag over his shoulder. “Another student has the room reserved after us, but I’ll see you next week.”

Shiro leaves practice feeling markedly better than he had earlier in the week. Maybe it isn’t hopeless after all.

When Allura and Matt leave for Salsa on Friday, he waves them off with a smile. He spends the evening practicing, trying to get his hips to move the way Lance’s do. He’s not sure he’s getting it quite right – it feels wrong – but the whole thing is new for him. He has no idea what it’s supposed to feel like.

 

* * *

 

 

Shiro gets better with each passing week. Lance teaches him basic turns – mostly turning his partner, but Shiro ends up having to turn himself – and a few other steps he calls ‘beginner’ even if they feel complex to Shiro. The hard part, he finds, is learning how to lead. Lance helps him out the first couple times, but after Shiro starts to get it, he refuses to do anything unless Shiro specifically leads him to do it.

“You’re going to be dancing with Matt or Allura, right?” Lance asks after Shiro gets frustrated when he doesn’t turn. Again. “They aren’t here. You need to be able to guide them. And what if you dance with someone completely different?”

“There is no way I’m dancing with anyone else.”

“Oh? So you’re just going to let some poor, lonely girl stand in the corner by herself?”

Shiro flinches. “She wouldn’t want to dance with someone like me anyway.”

“Shiro, buddy ol’ pal, future brother-in-law, let me tell you what I told Hunk when _he_ asked me to teach him swing: no one likes to go to a dance alone. And no one likes going to a dance alone and not being asked to dance at all. She doesn’t care how bad you are; what she cares about is that you asked.” He has…a great point. “Now, try it again. And this time, actually lead me.”

He gets better, even if he’s not perfect. He knows more moves than just the basic step, and his hips are looser, more fluid, even if his way of moving them makes Lance laugh.

And Lance is a great teacher. He teaches slowly; Shiro knows he’s moving slower than he would teaching almost anyone else. Lance is patient with him though – after their breakdown the first week, he doesn’t let his irritation show, if he even has any. He makes it _fun_. And dancing is something Shiro had never thought he’d enjoy.

He practices in his spare time, humming some of the tunes Lance plays over and over. It gets to the point where Allura and Matt notice his change in attitude.

“You seem happier,” Allura remarks over dinner. It’s just the two of them tonight – Matt’s busy proctoring an exam. “Something happen?”

He wants to tell her, he really does. But part of it is the surprise. He wants to see the look on her – and Matt’s – faces when he shows up at the ballroom. So even though he wants to tell her, he doesn’t. “Can’t I just be in a good mood?”

Allura hums. “Of course you can. I was just wondering what had happened.”

“Well, for one thing, you’ve gotten more time off in the evenings,” he teases.

She rolls her eyes. “Sap.” But she drops the subject.

Later, when Matt finally walks in, following his exam, the subject resurfaces. Shiro greets him with a warm smile and a warmer hug, an embrace that Matt leans into easily. Allura calls out from the kitchen to ask him if he wants leftovers, and Shiro runs his hands soothingly over Matt’s back.

“You’ve been way more energetic than usual,” Matt muses, voice somewhat muffled by the way his face is buried between Shiro’s neck and shoulder. “Something happen?” he asks, sounding just like Allura.

“You and Allura are the same,” Shiro complains. “Can’t I just be happy?”

At that point, Allura pokes her head out of the kitchen. “Matt, do you want leftovers?”

“Yes please,” Matt pulls himself out of Shiro’s embrace, wandering into the kitchen. Effectively distracted by the food, he drops the subject as well.

Allura and Matt aren’t the only ones who notices something different about him. A few weeks before the planned reveal, he runs into Pidge outside the campus café. He thought he’d just run into her coincidentally, but something about the way she looks at him – so reminiscent of Matt – makes him think it’s more intentional.

“So…” Pidge starts as they fall in step with each other. “Lance, huh?”

Shiro nearly spits out his drink. “What about him?”

She shrugs, sipping her own. If she’s anything like Matt – which she is – there’s an unholy amount of caffeine in that cup. “I’m not saying it’s anything unsavory.”

He can’t help but laugh. “Unsavory?”

“But,” she chugs on, ignoring him, “I’m not sure Keith would see it that way.”

Shiro’s eyes narrow. “What do you want?”

“I’m not blackmailing you.” He gives her a look. “This time,” she concedes with a grumble. “I’m just saying…” She sighs. “Look, I know how stupidly happy Lance is with Keith. I know _way_ too much about –“

“Stop.”

“Yes, exactly. And I know that you and Matt have been happy since the beginning and that being with Allura has just made everything better for both of you. So I’m sure that there’s a good reason you’ve been spending all your free time with Lance lately.”

And then Shiro gets it. It had taken him longer, because Pidge can’t ever be straightforward with her words, but he finally understands. “You don’t have to worry,” he assures her, voice soft. “I’m never going to leave Matt.”

“Or Allura.” Pidge has bonded with Allura since they started dating her. Matt has joked that they already treat each other like siblings. It’s cute, even though he’ll never tell her that. Pidge would kill him.

“Or Allura,” he agrees.

“Are you going to tell me what you’re doing, then?”

Shiro sighs. “I’d rather not.”

“It’s fine, you don’t have to. I’m sure Keith will be more than happy to hear –“

Shiro groans. “I thought you weren’t blackmailing me.”

“I wasn’t before. Now I am.”

“Fine.” He still doesn’t say anything though, hoping irrationally that she’ll leave him be.

“I’m waiting.” Well, so much for that.

“Lanceisteachingmetodance,” he mutters, hoping she won’t catch it.

She doesn’t, but that also doesn’t stop her. “What was that? Go tell Keith you’re having secret rendezvous with Lance?”

“I said he’s teaching me to dance, okay?”

Shiro avoids looking at her, but she’s quiet for too long. When he finally glances over her face is twisted. She looks like she’s trying to decide between laughing or cooing. He chugs half his coffee, scalding his tongue. “I need to get to the lab –“

“No, wait.” Pidge stops him with a hand on his arm. “It’s…sweet. In a way. I mean…I get it. Lance is the best dancer aside from Allura. You’re trying to surprise them, right?”

He nods, defeated.

“I’m not going to tell anyone,” Pidge promises. “But you seriously might want to be careful. I think Keith’s already getting suspicious.”

Shiro frowns. “What do you mean?”

“Well, he knows Lance isn’t spending his free periods working on his dance routine, for one.”

“How does he know that? How do _you_ know that?”

Pidge scowls. “Because Keith won’t talk to Lance like a normal person, and apparently he won’t talk to you either. And Lance has been spending weekends going onto campus or using the studio in town to work on his own stuff. Keith bought the whole ‘I need extra practice’ thing at first, but…”

Shiro’s stomach sinks. He hadn’t realized how much time he was taking away from Lance. Three hours each week can really add up, especially when Lance is already trying to balance two majors, extracurriculars, and his relationship. “I’ll talk to him,” he assures Pidge. “Besides, this will all be over soon.”

She brightens up noticeably. “Oh yeah? When?”

“Pidge,” he warns.

“I’m not done blackmailing you.”

Shiro sighs. Sometimes he wishes the Holts were born with less impish personality traits. Sometimes. “Three weeks,” he confesses finally.

“Salsa Friday?”

“Yes.”

“Excellent. See ya around, Shiro!” She waves him off with a sing-songy farewell, leaving him with a sinking feeling in his stomach.

 

* * *

 

 

“You’re late,” Lance greets three weeks later. It’s their last practice before the big event. Shiro is simultaneously excited and nervous, but most of all he’s ready to be done.

And so far, it’s been going great.

“Sorry. Matt has the afternoon off,” he explains.

Then immediately regrets it. Lance waggles his eyebrows. “Oh _yeah_? His schedule letting him be _flexible_ , hmm?”

Shiro flushes. Ordinarily he’d call Lance out for getting the wrong idea. Except…it isn’t the wrong idea. Whatever Lance is imaging happened is probably fairly accurate to what had happened.

“Let’s just get on with it.”

Lance wolf-whistles. “Alright come here.”

Shiro changes his shoes quickly and steps forward, wrapping his arms around Lance the way that has now become familiar. “What moves are we doing today?” Shiro asks, the music is already playing in the background. He starts with just the basic for now. Lance has taught him to move at half-time if he needs to. He always needs to.

“Actually today is a practice run. I want you to try and do every move that we’ve learned, but I don’t want to know when you’re doing it. So instead of telling me verbally, I want you to lead. You have to do each move at least once, and we’ll just fill the whole hour until you get comfortable.”

It actually sounds pretty fun. And it is. Shiro leads Lance around, putting far more basics in between each movement than he suspects Lance is used to, but Lance never once complains. Instead, he compliments Shiro when he gets things right and corrects him when he doesn’t. He occasionally stands his ground, continuing to do basic steps when Shiro doesn’t do as good of a job leading as Lance thinks he should.

Shiro starts getting into it enough that Lance stops just teaching, and starts instead poking fun at him. “I can’t believe that Shiro, the great Shiro, prim and proper to a fault, was late for a secret salsa rendezvous because he was busy with his own _afternoon_ –“

“Lance!”

Shiro jumps, and Lance’s jaw snaps shut. They both stop where they stand, Lance pulled into Shiro’s body for one of their cross-body turns. Shiro drops his hold on Lance, realizing what this looks like and turns, meeting the angry glare of Keith in the doorway. One day to go, and he’d been caught.

“Shiro,” Keith says his name coolly, stepping into the room and letting the door shut behind him. “What’s going on?”

“Uh…” He starts, brain completely blank. He should’ve talked to Lance, the way he’d promised Pidge he would. Then Lance could’ve explained things to Keith and they wouldn’t be in this situation. But he hadn’t; he’d gone on like everything was normal, and now here they are.

“Keith!” Lance greets, overly large smile sliding onto his face. “Come on in, we were just –“

“I saw what you were doing,” Keith cuts him off.

“Well you look pretty upset about it.” Lance crosses his arms over his chest, and okay that is _not_ the reaction Shiro had expected.

Keith throws his hands in the air. “Of course I’m upset! You told me you were rehearsing, and I walked in on _my brother_ cradling you in his arms!”

Now is the time for Shiro to step in. “Keith, it isn’t what it looked like –“

“No,” Lance cuts him off. “It’s _exactly_ what it looked like.” He narrows his eyes and points a finger at his boyfriend. “ _Keith_ just thinks that I’m the type to cheat on him _with his brother_.”

“I never said that.”

“No? Well you were thinking it.”

“What else was I supposed to think?”

“Maybe that there’s probably a reasonable explanation? I mean, Jesus, Keith. We were literally dancing when you walked in.”

“Shiro doesn’t dance,” Keith retorts.

Then, just to make this nightmare worse, they both turn to Shiro. He swallows. Being in the middle of a couple’s dispute is not exactly his forte. He can barely handle the spats he has with his own better halves. Or whatever they’re called.

“Lance is teaching me,” he confesses.

Keith snorts. “You’re dating two perfectly adequate dancers. Why not ask one of them?”

This time, Lance is the one who snorts. “Seriously?” He turns to Shiro. “See what I mean? Romance illiterate.”

“ _Lance_.”

Lance sighs, rolling his eyes. “He’s obviously trying to surprise them. It’s called being romantic.”

Keith turns to Shiro, who nods. “He’s been teaching me since earlier in the semester. Today’s our last practice.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah. _Oh_.” Lance snaps back.

Shiro looks at him. “You shouldn’t be so harsh on him.” Keith gets jealous; Shiro knows that. They all know that. Lance is the most serious relationship Keith’s ever had, and every one of them knows he worries over it.

“He’s been possessive and suspicious for the past several weeks! It’s driving me nuts.”

And just like that, the fight starts again.

“Oh really? You didn’t seem to have a problem with that last night!”

“You leave that out of this!”

“’ _Oh Keith, fuck me har_ –“

“ **Keith** ,” Shiro booms, silencing them both. He walks over to the speakers and unplugs Lance’s phone, dropping the room into silence. He turns back to them, leveling his glare first at Keith, then to Lance, then back to Keith. “We are in the middle of my last dance session. If you want to argue with Lance or fight with me, you can wait until we’re done. Take a lap and cool off.” Keith shoots him a glare but knows better than to argue. He slams the door behind him when he leaves.

“Good one, Shiro. You’ll have to –“

“Lance.” Lance shuts up. “We are going to finish today’s session. Then I want you to talk to my brother and make up. You two care about each other too much to fight over something so stupid. I’ll apologize to him for keeping this from him, since that was my idea, but I won’t let this ruin your relationship.”

To Lance’s credit, he knows when to be professional. He nods curtly to Shiro’s comment before motioning for him to plug his phone back in. It’s awkward at first, but eventually they both manage to get back into the groove. Literally. Somehow, they manage to finish the session without further incident.

“Thank you,” Shiro says, carrying Lance’s phone over to him.

Lance looks up, pulling his shoes off. “Of course. Anything for you.”

Shiro smiles. “You’re strange. You know that right?”

“Yup,” Lance agrees, standing. “But I’m also perfect for your brother. Who, by the way, is standing in the door waiting for you.” He points over the door. Shiro looks over, and sure enough, Keith is standing just outside. “I’ll be in here till you’re done.”

“Sure you don’t want to talk to him first?”

Lance claps him on the shoulder, nudging him towards the door. “I’m sure _you_ don’t want to be anywhere near me and Keith making up from a fight. Just like I’m sure whoever has the studio next is gonna walk in on –“

“I’m going to stop you right there,” Shiro tells him. “And leave.”

Lance’s laughter follows him into the hall.

Shiro might close the door a little harder than necessary. “What was that about?” Keith asks, eyebrow raised.

“I promise you, I wish I didn’t know.”

“Oh.”

Shiro sighs. His brother has never been the easiest person to get to open up. “Are you going to tell me what all that was back there?”

Keith shifts his weight, avoiding Shiro’s stern gaze. “Nothing. I overreacted.”

“A bit, yes,” Shiro agrees. “He’s just teaching me to dance. You know I wouldn’t do that to you. You know _he_ wouldn’t do that to you,” Shiro assures him.

“You wouldn’t do that to Matt and Allura either.”

“Of course not. I love them.”

His brother nods. “I know.” He shifts his weight again, finally looking up at Shiro. “So why did you have Lance teach you?”

“To surprise them.”

“Is that…” Keith’s eyes dart to the door. “Is that really romantic?”

And Keith looks so confused, so genuinely uncomfortable, that Shiro can’t even bring himself to tease him. Not yet. “It depends,” he confesses instead. “In this case, yes. Matt’s patient, but he’s too busy. And Allura is…intense. I figured Lance would be a better choice. He’s a good teacher, and he didn’t once make fun of me for how bad of a dancer I am.”

His brother snorts. “You are pretty bad.”

“So are we good?”

Keith bites his lip but nods. “Yeah. We’re good.”

Shiro pats him on the shoulder, but before he can leave, Keith stops him again. “Shiro?”

“Hmm?”

“I’m sorry.”

He smiles back at his brother. “Go make up with him already.”

 

* * *

  

“I can’t do this.”

Shiro’s been pacing up and down outside the building for the better part of twenty minutes. He’s dressed up a bit for the big day, opting for a light button up at Lance’s recommendation. _It’ll get hot in there. You don’t want to be too fancy_ , he’d said.

Now, Lance looks like he wants to strangle him. “Shiro, you seriously need to calm down. It’s just a social dance night. They have them every Friday.”

He throws up his hands. “That’s just the thing! Every Friday. Matt and Allura have been here every Friday for the past forty years! They’re going to be so much better than me.”

“You’re not even forty years old.”

“I’m going to embarrass myself. This is the worst,” Shiro plows on completely ignoring him. “I should never have committed to this. I can still go back now; they don’t even know that I was planning to do this.”

“What’s going on?” A third voice enters the fray; one Shiro immediately recognizes as Keith. He ignores him completely, continuing with his pacing.

“You talk to him,” Lance says, exasperated. “He’s been like this for almost a half an hour now.”

“Didn’t the dance start already?”

“Technically, yes. It’ll go till late though. That’s not the point. Talk to him. Please. Before I rip my hair out.”

Their voices wash over Shiro as he paces, until finally there’s a hand on his shoulder. Shiro glances over to see Keith’s concerned face. “Shiro. Breathe.”

It’s a breathing practice they’ve done almost their whole lives; whenever one of them is panicking the way Shiro now realizes he is. In for one count, then out for two. In for three counts, then out for four. Up as high as they can go, repeating as many times as they need to.

Keith leads them through it, Shiro’s shoulders relaxing as his breathing and heartrate come under his control. “Better?”

He nods.

“You’ve been preparing for this for a while, Shiro. You’ll do great. And even if you don’t, you know they’ll both still love you.”

Shiro knows that, he really does. But this is so far outside his comfort zone, and he has no idea what to expect.

“Shiro,” Lance speaks up. “It’s just a fun social dance. Less people will judge what you’re doing than I did while I was teaching you. Promise.”

Lance is probably lying, but it makes Shiro smile anyway. “Thanks Lance. Keith.” He takes one more deep breath. “Alright. I’m ready.”

The two of them lead the way into the building, down the hall to the ballroom. Shiro hears the music as they approach, loud and fast. He’s definitely not ready. He almost turns around and bolts out, but Lance is already pushing open the door, turning back with a grin.

Keith must see the hesitation written on his face because he wraps his hand around Shiro’s wrist and leans in. “Don’t you dare abandon me here,” he hisses.

He lets himself get dragged in.

The music washes over them, nearly drowning them in the sound as they walk through the tall doors. A smiling girl stamps their hands and waves them in. The nerves almost overwhelm Shiro again, but then Lance is there, grabbing both him and Keith and pulling them to the side. He’s grinning, ear to ear, already swaying in time to the music, completely in his element.

“I don’t see Allura and Matt yet,” Lance tells them, leaning in and raising his voice to be heard over the music. “I think a good idea would be to do a dance or two to warm up, get you feeling more comfortable before they show up. How’s that sound?”

“Uh…”

“Great!”

And Lance is pulling his hand, tugging him out to the dance floor. He tries to move too fast, trying to go in pace with the music at first. Wanting to prove that he _definitely knows what he’s doing_. Lance smacks him, making him slow back down to half-time. “Don’t rush,” he reminds Shiro.

Shiro gains confidence once they slow down. He’s able to execute the spins, moves he learned from Lance, without Lance once having to correct him or tell him to lead better. Confident enough that it feels like another practice, despite the other people there.

Confident enough that he doesn’t notice Allura and Matt walk in until Lance nudges him.

They both look amazing, as usual. Allura’s in a skirt, Matt in an outfit a lot like Shiro’s own. In fact, he thinks that might be one of his old shirts. He steps on Lance’s foot.

“Ow. Dude, seriously?” Lance tugs him off to the side, where Keith is standing, arms crossed. He’s frowning over to where Matt and Allura are standing, talking. Shiro turns to watch as Allura changes into a pair of heels, using Matt as her support.

“How are you planning to dance with them?” Keith asks, breaking the silence.

Lance smacks his boyfriend.

“Lance?” Shiro prompts, nervously.

“Oh my god.” Lance groans, drawing a hand over his face. “I swear…” He lets out a sigh. “Keith, don’t leave.”

“I wasn’t planning to.”

“Good.” Lance turns back to Shiro. “Come on.”

Allura and Matt are still talking, stretching a bit as they do, looking for all the world completely perfect together. Shiro’s struck, as he is sometimes, with wonder. He somehow managed to become the luckiest man alive…twice.

And then they look up and see him.

A smile lights up Matt’s face, practically making him sparkle. Allura gives him a bemused look, almost a smirk. “Lance,” she greets as they approach, “what blackmail do you have on Shiro to make him come here?”

Lance laughs. “Actually, this one was his idea.”

“Really?”

He offers his hand to her. “I’ll tell you more if you grant me this dance.”

Allura laughs, taking Lance’s offered hand. “Of course.” She looks back at both Matt and Shiro and winks. “You two be good.” Lance spins her around, and then they’re gone on the dance floor.

Shiro figures that was his cue. He offers his hand to Matt, the same way Lance had demonstrated earlier. “May I have this dance?”

“Takashi Shirogane, asking me to dance. I must’ve died in my sleep.” But Matt takes his hand anyway. They step out onto the floor, staying close to the edge, and Shiro rests one hand nervously on Matt’s waist, the other taking Matt’s hand. He counts the beats in his head, taking a step on the one, and miraculously, Matt follows.

“You wanna tell me when you learned to salsa?” Matt asks almost immediately.

Shiro’s too nervous to try anything, instead keeping with the basic step while they talk. “Lance has been teaching me all semester.”

“Why?”

“Wanted to surprise you.”

Matt smiles again, dimples dotting his cheeks. “That’s actually really cute.”

“Shut up.” Shiro spins him, just to keep Matt from seeing the flush rising over his cheeks.

They don’t talk much more than that, Shiro focused too much on not messing up what he’d learned, and Matt not one to intentionally mess him up. “You’re not bad,” Matt tells him after a while.

“Not bad?”

“You’re a beginner, what do you expect?”

“Fair.”

A throat clears near them, and the two of them look over to see Allura standing there. “Mind if I cut in?”

Matt steps aside, mischievous grin lighting his face. “Go for it ‘Lura.”

When Allura steps in, she takes Shiro’s waist, forcing him into the follower position. “You normally lead?” He asks, looking over to where Matt is now stepping out to dance with Lance.

“Not always.”

She moves them faster than he’s used to, going in time with the music. He’s grateful she’s leading rather than him, because he wouldn’t be able to keep up. It’s hard enough to follow as is. But Allura is good as a lead, guiding him through moves he definitely never learned with Lance. They don’t talk – there’s no way there’s enough air for it anyway – instead moving through the song.

When it ends, Allura steps back, leading him to the side again. “Not bad, Shiro,” she tells him. “Especially if you’ve only been learning for a semester.”

He brightens at that. Praise from Allura is always intoxicating. “Matt said the same thing.”

“Did he now?” She asks, looking over towards Matt, where he’s now walking over.

“Did I what?” Matt asks, looking between them.

Allura grabs his hand. “Tell Shiro he’s not bad.”

“No, he’s really not,” Matt agrees. “We’ll have you at our level in no time.” He looks like he wants to say more, but Allura’s already tugging him out to the dance floor again.

Shiro stands back, watching the couples move from the side, but he doesn’t recognize this dance. The music’s slower this time, but the beat isn’t what Shiro’s used to. And all the couples are gathered together closer than he’s used to, bodies pressed together as they sway. He watches as Matt pulls Allura in, the two of them moving almost as seductively as they do in bed. He’s only done a few dances, but Shiro’s already feeling flushed.

“ _That’s_ bachata.” He looks up and sees Lance’s amused expression gazing down at him.

“What?”

Lance nods to the floor. “The dance I told you about before. Aren’t you glad you didn’t ask about that one?”

The flush rises, heat filling his cheeks as he pictures that. How awkward it would’ve been. He wouldn’t have made it a single step if he’d asked to learn that. Lance laughs, seeming to read his mind. “Yeah. I’m glad too.” He glances off to the side, where Keith is leaning against the wall, now talking with Pidge. Shiro hadn’t seen her walk in, but he’s not surprised that she’s here now. She’d implied she would be.

“Feeling better?” Lance asks him.

“Yeah.”

“Told you they’d love you no matter what.”

“I know they do. Didn’t make it any less scary.”

Lance nods. “Yeah. I get that.” He looks over at Keith again. “I’m gonna…”

Shiro waves him off. “Go.” Lance turns, but Shiro thinks of one other thing. “Lance.”

“Hmm?”

“Thank you for this. Really.”

Lance grins. “Let me marry your brother, and we’ll call it even.”

“Deal.”

He dances with Allura and Matt, the three of them taking turns the rest of the night. Really, when Shiro had planned this, he’d never expected to stay this long. But they’re having fun, all three of them. Five if they count Lance and Keith, who occasionally make an appearance. Pidge had long since disappeared, no doubt with video evidence of the entire event.

Lance and Keith leave next, sometime around 10:30 or 11:00 pm. Allura seems saddest to see them go. She and Matt are amazing together, but she and Lance could probably win dance competitions if they wanted to. It’s something Matt and Shiro talk about when they both take a break to chug an entire bottle of water.

The three of them stay until the very end, leaving after the last song. Matt, the busiest of them all, sways between Shiro and Allura, barely keeping his eyes open as they walk back to their apartment. Allura’s changed back into her flats and is taking most of his weight.

“I can’t believe you did that for us,” she murmurs over the top of Matt’s head.

Shiro glances over. Allura’s giving him a fond smile, eyes twinkling in the starlight. “Of course I did it for you. I love you.”

“’ove you too, Kash…” Matt mutters.

Allura snorts. “Did you sleep at all last night?”

“M’be.”

She and Shiro exchange meaningful looks over top Matt. Intervention time. Shiro hooks one of Matt’s arms around his neck, and Allura does the same with his other. As one, they reach down and scoop up his legs, carrying Matt between them.

“You’re impossible,” Shiro tells him. “You need to sleep.”

“’M fine.”

Allura speaks up. “You are not. Do you need me to give you that lecture on sleeping habits and health again?”

Matt just groans.

“Get him to bed?” Shiro asks.

“Get him to bed,” Allura confirms.

Shiro may not come to salsa Friday every week, not like Allura and Matt, but it was fun enough that he’ll do it at least once more. Ending the night carrying Matt between them, the way they had as undergrads, is possibly the best he could’ve imagined. The three of them collapse – disgusting and sweaty – onto the bed together, waking tangled in each other in the morning. It’s not perfect, but it’s pretty damn close.

**Author's Note:**

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